How to make crispy light Zucchini Fritters! Never soggy or heavy! This Greek-inspired recipe for Zucchini Fritters is made with feta and dill, topped with optional Tzatziki sauce. Serve this with a hearty green salad for a simple delicious vegetarian meal or a tasty appetizer! Updated 7/20
A simple recipe highlighting zucchini and summer squash- Zucchini Fritters! If you are like me, you’ve probably come close to your fill of zucchini and summer squash for the season. When we get to this point at our house, I know it is time to whip up these tasty Zucchini Fritters. (New photos by Simply Suwannee)
I’ve discovered that my husband will eat pretty much anything that comes in the form of a fritter, so this is a tactic I employ when trying to get through the last mound of summer produce.
Zucchini Fritters seasoned with fresh dill and feta cheese are full of flavor and make for a delicious vegetarian meal alongside a hearty green salad. Topped with creamy Tzatziki Sauce, they are dreamy!
Watch how to make Zucchini Fritters! | 30-sec video
How to make the BEST Zucchini Fritters (in a nutshell):
- grate zucchini
- salt zucchini to draw out water, drain.
- Mix into a thick batter
- Pan-sear in a hot skillet, finishing in the oven.
- Serve with sour cream, yogurt, or my favorite, Tzatziki!
It starts with the zucchini!
Use a food processor with the grater attachment to grate the zucchini. You can also do this by hand using a hand grater. You’ll need 4- 5 cups.
Sprinkle with salt to draw out the water. * This is a really important step in preventing soggy fritters! You want your fritters light and crispy, not heavy and soggy. Right? 😉
Why are my fritters soggy?
- The number one reason why your fritters are probably soggy is not drawing out the water from the vegetable. The easiest way to do this, is to salt the veggie, let stand 15-30 minutes, strain, then press the remaining water out, patting dry. This will prevent soggy fritters and give you light, crispy fritters that plump up when cooking!
Look how much water will release!
After it releases its liquid, place in a strainer and press as much of the water out. Blot with paper towels. Get them dry.
Mix in the rest of the ingredients and you will end up with a thick dough or “batter”, which will be full of good zucchini flavor and texture, and not taste eggy.
Fresh dill and scallions give these the BEST flavor!
I love adding feta, but you could sub another cheese- even cheddar or grated mozzarella if you are not a feta fan.
Then place the fritters on a parchment-lined sheet pan, or on a wire rack to finish cooking all the way through in the oven- without letting them get too dark on the outside.
You will know they are done on the inside when they start to puff up slightly.
This “puffing up” is basically the egg inside telling you, “I’m fully cooked through“!
Keep this in your back pocket. 😉
Make the optional Tzatziki Sauce. If you are swimming in Zucchini, Tzatziki can also be made with zucchini instead of the traditional English cucumber. Tzatziki, a Greek-style yogurt sauce is a really refreshing and cool topping for the crispy warm fritters- or sub a little yogurt or sour cream.
Pull the Zucchini Fritters out of the oven and serve warm. Leftovers can be stored in the fridge and reheated, uncovered in a toaster oven and surprisingly will get crispy again. Every time I make zucchini fritters, I often wish I would have made a double batch. They tend to go very quickly!
Spoon a dollop of tzatziki sauce on top and serve with a salad. This can be a light dinner or hearty lunch.
Or, to serve as a fun appetizer, make much smaller fritters (1 1/2 inch in diameter) and top with tzatziki and a fresh sprig of dill -and pierce a mini fork down through the top, for the perfect appetizer bite.
More recipes you may enjoy
- How to make the Best Tzatziki
- Mediterranean Stuffed Peppers
- Grilled Eggplant with Greek Relish and Creamy Polenta
- Greek Pasta Salad
- Classic Greek Salad
- Mediterranean Chard Salad
- Mediterranean Farro Salad w/ Marinated Zucchini and Chickpeas
- Beet Tzatziki
Crispy Light Zucchini Fritters!
- Prep Time: 30 mins
- Cook Time: 20 mins
- Total Time: 40 mins
- Yield: 12 fritters 1x
- Category: Appetizer, vegetarian dinner,
- Method: pan-seared
- Cuisine: Greek
- Diet: Vegetarian
Description
How to make light and crispy Zucchini Fritters! An easy recipe with fresh dill, feta and tzatziki sauce. A Greek spin on our favorite fritters!
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 lbs zucchini (about 4 medium zucchini)
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup chopped scallions
- 1/2 cup chopped fresh dill (or sub half with Italian parsley)
- 1/2 cup crumbled feta ( or sub another grated cheese- jack, mozzarella, cheddar)
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour (or GF flour)
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp fresh nutmeg
- ——-
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
Serve with Tzatziki Sauce, sour cream or a dollop of plain yogurt. For a and extra kick, Zhoug yogurt is a great option too!
Instructions
- GRATE AND SALT ZUCCHINI: Using a hand grater or food processor, with grater attachment, grate the zucchini. You need about 4 cups grated, placed in a med-sized bowl. Sprinkle with 1 tsp kosher salt, stir well, and let sit for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. (This will release the water and give you light and crispy zucchini cakes!)
- In the meantime, prep the other ingredients and make the optional Tzatziki Sauce.
- After 15 minutes, place the salted zucchini in a strainer, and using your hand or a spatula, press down firmly to remove as much water as possible. Do not rinse. Pat dry with a few paper towels. You really want to get these fairly dry.
- Preheat oven to 350F
- MAKE THE BATTER: Place the grated zucchini in a bowl, adding dill, scallions, feta, nutmeg, and one egg. Mix well. In a separate bowl mix flour and baking powder together. Add flour mixture to zucchini, incorporating all. This will be a fairly thick batter.
- SEAR: In a heavy bottom skillet, heat 1-2 T olive oil or butter over medium heat. When the oil is hot, spoon ping-pong sized balls of the batter. Lightly sear each side until golden brown about 3 minutes each side, and place in a warm oven-either on a wire rack or on a parchment-lined sheet pan. Putting these in the oven will allow them to cook all the way through and puff up, without getting too brown in the skillet.
- Make these in batches, letting fritters finish at least 10 minutes in the oven, or until they puff slightly.
- Serve with a dollop of Tzatziki Sauce and dill sprig.
Notes
These and be cooked ahead, refrigerated for 3 days and reheated in a toaster oven ( right on the rack). Great for meal prep!
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 3 fritters
- Calories: 257
- Sugar: 1.2 g
- Sodium: 774.9 mg
- Fat: 12.5 g
- Saturated Fat: 4.3 g
- Carbohydrates: 14.4 g
- Fiber: 0.8 g
- Protein: 6.3 g
- Cholesterol: 63.2 mg
Curious if many one has used this recipe in an air fryer. Also can you make a bunch and freeze them … take out as needed.
I havent, but curious too!
My goodness, these exceeded expectations by far! Absolutely loved them. The recipe is certainly well developed. I had to use cheddar cheese. And no scallions on hand, so I grated about 3 T of a white onion. They cooked up perfectly, with just the right amount of “puff.” This recipe is going on my hard drive.
Great to hear Lesli!
Hi, Sylvia, My hubs & I are trying to be more veggie forward. I made these fritters but subbed basil and Parmesan for the mint and feta. Big winner. Your readers may like to know I used a potato ricer to extract all the zucchini juice and it worked perfectly! And the tzatziki makes it! We also made your Miso Portobello burgers so you’re 2 for 2! Fondly, Jill in Seattle
Sounds tasty! Thanks Jill- happy you found us. 🙂
Hello! Hoping to make these alongsite traditional latkes for a Hannukkah celebration. If I am making them in advance, do you recommend shredding and draining the zucchini and letting those sit overnight, or doing the whole thing ahead of time and popping them back in the oven to heat up the next day?
I really like your first idea. Shredding and draining overnight. Reheating will work too- but better fresh i think!
Another amazing recipe as was the tzaziki! I doubled it and added aged cheddar as I had run out of feta. Huge hit with our vegetarian guests. Will be making this one weekly for sure. Thank you!
Awesome Mary! Thanks!
Made these today and they were fantastic! I also made the taziki to go with, delicious.
Thank you!
Awesome Sienna- thanks!
This is definately a show stopper and tickles your taste buds. Love this recipe. Companion to many meaty dishes or on it’s own.
Love zucchini fritters! Your recipe uses baking powder which I wasn’t doing but now I will. This will help make the fritters lighter and brown up so much more nicely. Thanks for the tips throughout the recipe to make a fritter that is light and airy!!
These were easy to make and delicious flavor. I used a nut milk bag to squeeze the excess water out of the zucchini and I substituted GF flour (Bob’s Red Mill 1:1). The only issue was the texture in the middle was a little gooey. I’m certain they were cooked through and I even put them back in the oven for an additional 10 minutes but it didn’t help. Everything else about the recipe turned out exactly as it should but I’m not sure what went wrong there and if it was because I used GF flour.
Oh interesting Lauren, shoot! I too wonder if it was the flour?
I made these for a ladies night gathering and they were a huge hit! Now I’m making them again two days later for the family. A perfect answer to this time of year’s question, “What am I going to do with all this zucchini I have from the garden?!”! Well done, Sylvia!
Haha! Love it! Thanks Kirsten!
Dear Sylvia,
I made these and they were lovely, even though I forgot the nutmeg 🤦🏽♀️.
Thanks!
best
Julie
Good to know Juile! Thanks!
These will be delicious 😋
Thank you.
Delightful! I didn’t have ricotta so I used grated Jarlsberg cheese, very nice also. They *did* puff up in the oven :). Thank you Sylvia.
Great to hear Alice!
I served a Mediterranean style dinner last night and decided to give these a try. They were a huge hit. Not hard to make! I made sure the zucchini was very dry by following the directions then I let it sit out on the counter on some paper towels while I went about my preparations for the rest of the meal. They crisped up and puffed in the oven. This recipe was easy to prepare and delicious! Thank you!
Perfect Lisa- glad this worked for you!
These are straight up delicious! I have made them at least a dozen times now–just as written and they are easy and light. A great summer dinner.
Glad you enjoyed Robin!
We made this recipe very carefully following your instructions exactly. We felt very uncomfortable after the meal because the zucchini did not really cook and that’s a lot of zucchini to eat when it is uncooked. It was delicious but needs tweaking. We may try sautéing zucchini, and cooling it, before mixing the batter.
Oh shoot Cindy. Sorry about that. Did you salt and drain the zucchini beforehand?
Will these work without cheese? Or is there a vegan cheese you would recommend?
Daiya Cheese is vegan and I’ve heard it melts nicely- but I haven’t tried it here.
Daiya shredded cheese is delicious and has different flavors to choose from Daiya is my favorite and it will work.
This is a great recipe and easy to make. Around these days I like to make recipes from everywhere around the world as it is the only way to travel easily. With a greek salad and roasted potatoes, it was delicious!
I kept mine vegan. I added a chia seeds egg (1.5 table spoon chia seeds and 4 table spoon water) and it was perfect.
Thanks for sharing! I’ll have to try that!
All your recipes turn out great but what can i use instead of eggs?
I’m not sure here. I guess you could try a flax egg or egg replacer?
Hi Sylvia, I’ve made many or your recipes and love them! Today I made the zucchini fritters for the second time and they were even better. My only complaint is that it took me 2 hours to make and bake all of them. Any suggestions on how to cut down the time?
Oh dear- that is a long time.Sorry. Do you use a food processor to grate? That would help. You could also salt and place in a strainer overnight in the fridge until ready to make. That might cut some time?
Please post more comprehensive nutrition info
Sorry about that- it is there now!
Hi Sylvia, if I were to only bake and not fry, what would be your suggestion for temperature and cooking time to have them nice and crispy? Thank you!
Hey Sonia! Great question! I have not tried baking this. Totally guessing here, I’d say 375-400F, and probably flip halfway through? Check at 15-20 minutes? You’d need to use a little oil or spray oil and I would use parchment. 😉 Let me know if you try this!
Thanks Sylvia for this recipe. I made this dish twice already this week with so many zucchinis from the garden. I didn’t have feta so used parmesan instead. My daughter sliced the fritters and sprinkled more grated parmesan in the middle!
Sylvia, these are the lightest, freshest tasting , most delicious fritters I have ever tasted! 3 of us finished the entire batch in 1 sitting and wanted more! I served the fritters with cashew yogurt because of My son’s cow’s milk allergy, and it worked beautifully . Thank you for sharing such delicious and healthy recipes! I’m a fan for life!
Awww thanks Leslie!
I had a hidden zucchini that had grown large in the garden. This recipe was a perfect use for it. Turned out great and it was my first time making a zucchini fritter!